Intrepid

The woman knelt to be eye to eye with her daughter. ''Honey-pot, I'll be fine. You show the princess back to the main caves. She's going to introduce you to some big men with guns. You bring them back up here, then you and Momma are going to run far away from here. Okay, baby girl?''

''I'm a big girl, Momma,'' the kid said.

Her momma tousled her hair. ''Now run, big girl.''

The kid backed slowly away from her mother. Kris stooped and headed into the tight opening, moving as fast as she could. Before too long, she heard soft footsteps behind her.

Not long after that came, ''That's the wrong way, follow me.''

Kris backed out of what sure looked like the right turn and followed the kid for what seemed like an hour but likely wasn't more than a minute or two before the cave opened up to an area that allowed Kris to almost stand.

Now jogging just behind the girl, Kris followed until she heard an M-6 shoot from one of the side galleries. She went on a bit longer, then came to a halt.

''Squad sergeants, report yourselves,'' she shouted.

Hardly a breath later, a head ducked out of a gallery ten meters farther on and to the left. A second head appeared ten meters farther to the right.

''You bellow, Your Highness?'' the closer one asked.

''We got problems,'' Kris said.

''Not here?'' the nearest said in mock horror.

''But it's been going so well,'' said the farthest.

Kris rested her hands on her hips. ''I thought we brought Marines to this shindig. All I see are stand-up comics who'd never make it if they didn't have day jobs.''

They came to her, guns at the ready, their faces all serious. ''What's the problem, ma'am?''

Kris filled them in. They didn't need to be told twice.

''That's just flat unkind of them,'' one sergeant said.

''Don't worry, ma'am, Junior here will take care of them.''

''Right, Pa,'' said the other Marine, who couldn't have been more than a few months the younger. ''I'll do the running around, so you won't get your wheelchair stuck.''

''We got two fire teams in spitting distance, ma'am. Junior will get them moving up the cave. How we gonna know the place?''

''This little girl is your guide,'' Kris said.

''I'm a big girl. I'll be nine come June.'' Kris didn't have a local calendar handy, but she was willing to bet June was seven, nine months away. Oh, to be in such a hurry to grow up.

''Her mom's holding your objective with a squirrel rifle. Relieve her and let her and the kid get out of there. One fire team will hold the OP. There's a fifty-pound bag of rice blocking this cave about halfway to the OP. That's your backstop, Sergeant. If they get past that rice, they'll be shooting our farmer friends in the backs. Understood?''

''Yes, ma'am. One team will hold the OP. No retreat. The second team holds the blocking position. Again, no retreat.''

Kris knew she'd just sentenced eight men to victory or death. She hated that.

But there was no other way.

''I'll try to get more rice bags sent up here. See if we can give you a couple of fallback positions.''

''Don't worry, ma'am,'' the junior sergeant said. ''We'll hold here. Tad, Debbie, Mary, Steve,'' he shouted. ''It's ‘Go Tell the Spartans' time, and you get to be the three hundred.''

A blond head appeared at a cave not five meters behind Kris. ''You say we're going to have three hundred.''

Heads appeared at other holes in the hill. ''I said eight Marines are going to do what three hundred Spartans didn't. We gonna hold the line,'' the junior sergeant announced.

''Ooo-Rah,'' greeted his chipper order.

The Marines took a moment more to recover extra rounds and rifle juice from their former position, then followed the anxious little big girl up the line at a trot.

''Sergeant,'' Kris started, but the squad leader waved her to silence.

''I know, ma'am. If they get past Junior's fire teams, they gonna have to fight past every one of mine. The threat axis just done whipped ninety degrees around.''

''But don't ignore the other hot spots,'' Kris added.

''Why do you think we sergeants have eyes in the backs of our heads, Your Highness? Any chance we could get some of third squad up here?''

Kris's platoon here in the center was supposed to be the reserve. Third squad was Kris's very last hole card.

''Sorry, Sergeant, but I'm taking them out of the mountain to see just how far up the valley we can get.''

''Well, support, even off axis, ma'am, is fine by me.''

And with that, the sergeant set about redeploying his troops, and Kris jogged for her headquarters cave.

40

Is that the famous Princess Longknife? Cortez asked himself as he looked at someone in Marine armor sticking her head out of his objective. Her battle dress was dirty, her face smudged by mud and powder. No rifle was evident, but clearly she'd used one today. On high power from the looks of it. Thorpe dismissed the woman as nothing but a debutante, looking for her next ball.

The powder on her face today was from honest ammunition.